


pull it through

by TheSpaceCoyote



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [18]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Blood and Gore, Force Healing, Hurt Armitage Hux, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 15:26:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18759175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: When Hux is grievously impaled in the aftermath of an explosion, Kylo goes to great lengths to save him—all the while enduring the still-conscious general's abrasive attitude.





	pull it through

**Author's Note:**

> Some injury fic based on conversations on Twitter! Just thought it was an interesting idea. Enjoy!

As they walked through the open hangar of the reclaimed Imperial base, heading back towards the transport waiting to carry them to the _Finalizer_ , Kylo couldn’t help but observe the strict, measured strides of his co-commander as he led the way a couple paces ahead of him and the rest of the troopers.

The general always exuded this aura of invulnerability, but different than the kind Kylo imagined he possessed according to the average rank and file. Whereas they must’ve perceived him as too powerful, too volatile to ever be touched, injured, or _killed_ , the reaction to Hux was always more akin to a guarded respect of some kind of inaccessible object. Immaculate to the point of inhuman, but less like a droid and more like a doll—a sneering, supercilious doll, with pale skin and hair sculpted so rigidly one could still see the teeth of the comb. It was an image Kylo had imprinted in his mind from the very moment he first met Hux, one he’d never seen waver in all the time he’d known him.

That image had shattered into pieces the moment the explosion that consumed their transport shot a wicked lance of shrapnel into the air and straight through the general’s gut.

Now Hux lies on the ground, half-braced up against a wall, shuddering with the distant impacts of blasters and bodies as the remaining contingent of troopers fan out before them to fend off the ensuing attack and cover their two commanders. Kylo knows he should probably join them, as his powers and battle expertise would surely bring the skirmish to a quick close, but instead he finds himself kneeling at the general’s side with one had braced against his shoulder and the other hovering nervously over his wound.

The shrapnel’s still stuck through Hux’s body, sunk and half melted into the wall behind him. Dark, glistening red steadily spreads through the black material of his uniform and splatters up against the shaft of the mangled metal. Hux trembles all over, his face beet red with exertion and pain, eyes manically wide and teeth gritted so tightly it’s a marvel they don’t shatter. The usual, slick-backed style of his hair has fallen completely apart from the impact and injury, ginger strands plastered against his sweaty, tense temples.

“Hold still,” Kylo says without thinking, as he carefully touches just above where the shrapnel pierces Hux’s middle. The general snorts angrily through his bloody teeth, eyes narrowing at him.

“A-Are you stupid? W-Where am I going to go, I’m _pfaasking_ impaled to the wall!” Hux spits a bit of red down his lips, but somehow continues speaking, as if that doesn’t faze him. “On...second thought...perhaps I’ll take a _jog_ …”

“General, don’t speak. Don’t waste your strength,” Kylo tries, though he really just wants Hux to _be quiet_. He’s trying to figure out how best to tend to the general’s wound, should they have to flee or otherwise travel quickly to a new rendezvous point. But Hux won’t let up. Maybe speaking, _berating_ Kylo, helps him deal with the pain and shock of the injury.

“I’m going to try to take this out.” He taps lightly against the shrapnel. Hux’s eyes widen, and he shakes his head.

“Are you mad...? You take it out, I’ll bleed to death in this miserable p-place!” He moans, stomach heaving pointedly around the wound. Kylo sighs through his mask.

“That’s not going to happen. I’ll use the Force.”

Hux laughs hoarsely and rolls his eyes.

“Of course...the _Force_...surely the Force can heal wounds and resurrect the dead, yes? And perhaps rain c-confections down upon the earth—”

“I can at least hold back the bleeding once I remove it.”

Hux blinks, looking genuinely surprised.

“You...you can?”

“Theoretically, yes.”

“T-Theoretically?” Hux’s eyes bulge as he shakes his head again, this time a little weaker. “No, get me a damned _medic_ , I won’t let you _experiment_ on me like this!”

Kylo has never run into a man who could continue to run his mouth with such vehemence while he was— _uh_ , run through. Perhaps if the shrapnel had pierced Hux a little bit higher he’d be too busy dealing with the blood filling his lungs to berate Kylo as he tries to _save his life_.

“There’s no telling when a medic will arrive. Trust me, General.” Kylo knows that’s a bit of a tall order, considering their relatively hostile history. Hux seems to realize this and scowls, but his expression overall looks a little more somber. He twitches painfully, fist clenching on his thigh.

“ _Stars_ , if the last thing I see in this life is your ghastly f-face, _Ren_ , I’m going to haunt you to the end of your miserable days…”

Kylo thinks it best to bite his tongue on the fact that Force-Nulls like Hux aren’t particularly likely to return as a ghost. That will probably only enrage him further, and he needs to focus if he’s going to withdraw the shrapnel enough for a medic to properly repair later, once it’s safe. The sounds of blasters and further explosions still sound around them, making him wonder if he’ll even have to _carry_ Hux, on top of all of this.

“You’ll keep still then?” Kylo whispers, summoning the Force to his fingertips and watching Hux’s face. The general presses his bloodied lips tightly together, tilting his head back until his skull rests against the unsteady wall. After a moment of harsh breathing through his noses, he gives one, terse nod. As if reclaiming a bit of his lost stoicism, restoring Kylo’s belief that maybe they’d get out of this intact, that everything could go back to how it was before.

Summoning all of his focus and strength, Kylo takes the shrapnel in his invisible grasp and carefully starts to draw it out. He stops with Hux hisses through his teeth, a little thread of blood dripping over his lips, but after a moment the general nods sharply to continue. A sharp _screech_ of metal cuts through the din around them as Kylo pulls the other end out of the wall, carefully sliding it through the meat of Hux’s body.

The general’s fist trembles on his thigh, clenched so tightly Kylo thinks the leather might rip at the seams. Somehow, Hux’s cheeks have reddened even darker than before, tendons in his neck straining above the collar of his uniform as the slick sounds of metal on ragged flesh reach both of their ears. Kylo, who has heard the dying gurgles of hundreds of slain men, enemies and allies alike, finds it unsettling, especially as he starts to pull the other end back through Hux’s body.

Sweat trickles down his forehead as he feels Hux’s blood rush in to fill the wound, inhaling sharply as he halts it with more precision in the Force than he’s ever had to muster before. It’s more strenuous than he imagined—especially considering Kylo has dragged fleeing speeders out of the air with relative ease before. His fingers tremble, those of his other hand carefully manipulating through the air as the warm, bloodstained shaft of the shrapnel starts to rise up out of the general’s body with surgical slowness. Hux keeps his eyes tightly closed, refusing to look downwards, his face erratically twitching with pain.

Kylo finds himself leaning in, the mouthpiece of his mask very nearly brushing up against Hux’s flushed cheek. It’s the closest they’ve ever been to one another, close enough that Kylo can examine the finer details in Hux’s face, even as he concentrates on keeping the general’s spilled blood at bay. His eyelids are almost translucent, threaded with little purple veins and tipped in fine, metallic eyelashes that somehow have kept their luster despite the trauma of the whole ordeal. Kylo wants to keep better track of little things like this, after he gets Hux somewhere safe.

As the shrapnel shifts through Hux’s insides it grows more difficult to remove, the extent of the injury finally becoming morbidly clear to Kylo, but he’s determined not to let the general’s life slip through his fingers. Hux has put a shred of trust in him. He needs to do this.

Finally, the jagged end of the metal pulls out of Hux’s stomach, and as soon as it’s free Kylo forces invisible pressure upon the yawning hole, as well as throughout the wound to hold the general’s innards in place. More sweat trickles down his quivering face as he concentrates, and soon enough something warm and painful bursts in his nose to join it, trailing down over his trembling lips.

Hux whimpers at the loss of the shrapnel inside him, undoubtedly in pain from the injury, and if Kylo had the spare strength he might try to delve into the general’s mind and ease his discomfort himself, but all his focus is consumed with staving off Hux’s bleeding. More blood streams from his nose as his head pulses, unused to such delicate applications of the Force, but he endures it to keep his general living.

Gradually the conflict, both within and outside of the base, starts to ebb away, and for a moment Kylo wonders if he’s merely fading out of consciousness before fresh reinforcements, led by the implacable Captain Phasma herself, sweep through and happen upon the their blood-streaked commanders. Even with a proper medic now on hand to tend to Hux’s wounds and prepare him for transport, Kylo keeps his focus even as he trembles on his feet and blackness eats at the corners of his vision. He manages to make it on the rescue vessel, keeping to Hux’s side until they reach the small medical quarters, at which point he finally lets go and—with the sudden release of pressure—loses consciousness, nearly slamming his helmet against the edge of Hux’s gurney as he collapses to the ground.

* * *

The hum of engines briefly wakes Kylo from his daze.

His head throbs, and the white lights above hurt his eyes and forces him to turn to the side. He realizes distantly that someone has taken off his helmet, and feels a twitch of anger and shame at that fact, but he’s far too weary to exact retribution at the moment.

When Kylo flutters his eyes open again, away from the intruding light, they fall upon a second bed right beside his, upon which the body of General Hux rests. His heart leaps briefly into his throat, before falling in relief as soon as he notices the steady movement of Hux’s chest. His middle is swathed in heavy medical dressing, leaving Kylo to wonder how long he’d been out, and if they’d had to immerse Hux in any bacta before lying them beside one another.

But exhaustion creeps around him, chasing away his brief wisp of conscious thought. For now, Kylo lets it retake him, and falls back asleep.

He’ll have to preserve his strength for when Hux wakes, after all. The general will certainly have some very choice words for him then.

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](http://thethespacecoyote.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/heir_of_breath7/).


End file.
